Dissertation
Transport of Stormwater Contaminants in Unsaturated Porous Media
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2015
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111835
Abstract
Increasing amounts and deteriorating quality of stormwater is a high-risk emerging issue in rapidly growing urban communities. Stormwater, on its way to surface and groundwater destination, picks up a variety of contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus), and metals. Excess amounts of these contaminants eventually cause adverse affects to the health of aquatic organisms and humans by polluting surface and groundwater. This study describes a mechanistic study of PAH translocation in porous media, and empirical studies of nutrient and metal attenuation in a bioretention system. The specific objectives of this dissertation were (1) to quantify the effects of advancing and receding air-water interfaces on transport of PAH in porous media, supported by thermodynamic considerations of PAH at air-water interface, and (2) to quantify the effects of two different compost materials, used in bioretention systems on leaching of nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, and dissolved organic carbon, and to assess interactions of copper with dissolved organic carbon. The results showed that moving air-water interfaces play an important role in fluoranthene (a PAH) transport behavior. Advancing air-water interfaces were more effective in translocating fluoranthene within the porous medium than receding air-water interfaces. Fluoranthene in dissolved and colloidal form associated with air-water interfaces and moved along with moving interfaces. Results of leaching studies from bioretention systems showed that compost-amended bioretention sysems were a source of nitrate/nitrites, organic nitrogen, total, and ortho-phosphorus, total and dissolved copper. Dissolved organic carbon derived from compost formed organic complexes with copper, and facilitated copper leaching. Organic copper complexes tend to be less toxic to aquatic organisms, and therefore, compost amendments to bioretention systems will reduce toxicity of copper.
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Details
- Title
- Transport of Stormwater Contaminants in Unsaturated Porous Media
- Creators
- Maninder Kaur Chahal
- Contributors
- Markus Flury (Advisor)James B Harsh (Committee Member)Zhenqing Shi (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Crop and Soil Sciences, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 227
- Identifiers
- 99900581525501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation